Donald Trump is barred from Colorado's 2024 ballot, the state Supreme Court rules

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. BREAKING: by 4-3 vote, Colorado Supreme Court bars Trump from primary ballot

I trust Prof. Hasen and the Election Law blog

Link to tweet

https://electionlawblog.org/?p=140292

The Colorado Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, has issued its decision in Anderson v. Griswold, here. (Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in support of neither party in the case.)

From the opinion:

In this appeal from a district court proceeding under the Colorado Election Code, the supreme court considers whether former President Donald J. Trump may appear on the Colorado Republican presidential primary ballot in 2024. A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. The court stays its ruling until January 4, 2024, subject to any further appellate proceedings.

(The trial court had concluded it had jurisdiction and that Trump engaged in insurrection under Section 3, but that he had not taken an oath that subjected him to Section 3 and that the office of the president was not among the offices barred under Section 3.)

This is a major and extraordinary holding from a state supreme court. Never in history has a presidential candidate been excluded from the ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. United States Supreme Court review seems inevitable, and it exerts major pressure on the Court. Even inaction would functional exclude him from not just Colorado but perhaps other states. And granting cert requires the Court to step into the thorniest of political thickets. There are a dozen ways the Court could go. And there is no question this is a big, big deal. State law requires the Secretary certify names by January 5, 2024, and while it’s possible to bump beyond that, practical ballot printing deadlines will quickly approach, and the holidays mean any review will be more truncated.